Souls Unfractured (Hades Hangmen, #3)(95)

I fought back the anger building in my heart and assured Flame, “You are loved, loved so much. And your heart has so much love to give.” I held back my threatening tears, and listed, “You saved me. You protected me. You sat outside my door, day and night, to make sure I was safe. You paced before my window each night.” I traced along the scar on his neck. “And you took a bullet for me. Your blood, it flows with light and goodness, not flames and sin.”

Tracing the tracks of the tears on Flame’s cheeks, I added, “We are Flame and Maddie. And we have survived.” I pressed a kiss to his fingers and I emphasized, “We have found each other, and we are never letting each other go. Okay?”

Flame groaned just as the choir hit a crescendo. He enveloped me in his big strong arms.

Safe.

Inhaling the rich scent of his leather, I pulled back and suggested, “Let us leave, Flame. Let us go home. And let us never come back.”

We made it home in record time. As we entered the living room, Flame locked the door shut. I turned to face the man to whom I had just vowed my life. He stepped closer, and freeing my hair from its braid, hushed, “I want to be with you.”

My heart fluttered like a humming bird's wings at his need, and I led him into the bedroom. Flame stood and watched as I shed my clothes. Seeing him standing, fists by his sides, I went to move forward to remove his leathers. Suddenly, Flame took me in his arms. I gasped as my feet left the floor. I stared into Flame’s eyes as he gently laid me down on the bed.

I lay unmoving as Flame untied his belt and shed his cut. His clothes dropped to the floor. Then, with dark eyes blazing, Flame climbed upon the bed, his huge body immediately covering mine.

Flame’s hand pushed hair from my face and, just as his lips touched my lips, he murmured, “I love you, Maddie.”

I moaned as his lips crashed to mine, Flame’s strong yet timid hands lifting to run down my waist. My hips rolled as his hands moved north to the base of my breasts. And breaking his lips from my mouth our fearless gazes held. The air bristled with tension as our eyes remained locked. Then Flame’s calloused palm moved slowly to cover my left breast. A burning heat surged between my legs.

“Flame…” I moaned, as his fingers brushed over my nipple. But something flared in Flame’s eyes and he lowered his head. My heart slammed in my chest when I realized his mouth was lowering toward my nipple.

We had never made love like this before. We had never been so unrestrained or so free before.

I had never felt so happy and so safe before.

Flame’s head stilled as he hovered above my nipple. Then when his tongue swiped along the flesh, my back arched off the mattress. My hand dived into his hair. His tongue repeated the action and my thighs pressed together in need.

When I felt I could take no more, Flame pulled back and whispered, “Maddie.” His voice was guttural and rough, but confident. He then proceeded to press kiss after kiss over every inch of my bare skin.

My eyelids fluttered to a close as I fought to gain my composure. My skin was on fire, branded forever with every tender touch of his lips.

Then he lowered even further, his pierced tongue dragging down over my stomach, to the apex of my thighs. Flame panted hard, his warm breath ghosting between my legs. When I felt this new sensation, panic coursed through my blood. I lifted my chest off the bed. “Flame… stop…”

Flame raised his head up, and with such adoration on his handsome face, he pleaded, “Trust me.”

My heart squeezed at the need for my trust in his voice, and I nodded my head as his hand drifted from my ankle to my thigh. My barrier of resistance was lost the moment he used that hand to coax my thighs apart, his broad and hard chest shifting to lay in between.

My eyes shut as Flame’s thumb slipped between my folds, the placement of the pad of his thumb causing my body to flare with need. “Flame!” I cried out, my back thumping into the mattress. As his thumb worked faster, I thought nothing else could ever feel as good. Suddenly his thumb stopped, only to be replaced by his tongue.

This intimate touch arched my back. I had to find purchase on the bed linen for fear of breaking apart. I looked down, only to find Flame’s eyes captivating mine as his mouth and tongue pleasured my core, the metal stud piercing only heightening the sensation with each swipe. Reaching down to touch this man who had commandeered my heart, my body, my soul, I stroked my hands through his hair, only for a lightning bolt of pleasure to seize me in its rapture. “Flame!” I moaned, as my body tensed and splintered apart.

Gasping, I searched for air. Flame broke away from my core, and crawled above me, his large thigh opening my legs further. His hand ran down my body to lift up my thigh, and never moving his beautiful eyes from mine, he pushed inside of me—slowly, gently… lovingly.

“Maddie… my Maddie,” he murmured repeatedly as he filled me so completely, muscled hips tenderly rocking against mine. My hands drifted up his arms, over his neck, and on to the flames tattooed on the side of his head.

And I could feel it.

I could feel the final walls surrounding his fractured soul tear down, and the true man hidden behind, break through. And he was loving, and he was pure, and he was… “Mine,” I whispered, Flame’s eyes flaring and his lips parting on a feral groan at my confession.

“Maddie,” Flame whispered as his arms began to tense, his hips becoming firmer and more vigorous in their movements. His hand holding my thigh lifted my leg higher, and that insatiable pressure only Flame could make me feel, built in mere seconds. His breathing increased in speed, low grunts spilling from his lips. Then as his hard chest brushed across my breasts and his mouth crushed against mine, pure pleasure took hold. Lighting me up and making me soar.